Pocket guard



A. RIZZO 3,477,068

POCKET GUARD Nov; 11, 1969 Filed March 20, 1968 NVEVIOR.

A NGELO RIZZO EGWI%AM-QFM ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,477,068 POCKET GUARD Angelo Rizzo, 822 Koman Drive, Paramus, NJ.

Filed Mar. 20, 1968, Ser. No. 714,540 Int. Cl. A41d 27/20 U.S. Cl. 2-252 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A pocket guard having a rigidly supported elastic member depending over the top edge of the pocket which it is to secure.

Background of invention Many devices have been proposed guard against the pick pocket. Most such devices employ a secret compartment or pocket located beneath or behind the usual exposed pocket. Such construction is complicated, costly and invariably must be sewn into the garment by the manufacturer when the garment is being made. In addition, access to such secret or concealed pockets is difiicult, requiring careful attention and demanding dexterity.

It is among the objects and advantages of my invention to provide a simple pocket guard which may be applied to existing garments to secure the usual, exposed pocket.

Another object of my invention is to provide a pocket guard which insures facile access to the pocket and yet cannot be intruded upon by the pick pocket without alerting the wearer of the garment.

Pocket guards generally of the character disclosed and claimed herein are located in the United States Patent Office. The following United States patents illustrate the state of the art but do not anticipate the pocket guard as described and claimed herein: Ser. No. 937,280, Pat. No. 1,618,418; and Ser. No. 993,383, Pat. No. 2,859,449.

Summary of invention A pocket guard comprising a thin, relatively rigid support attached to a garment above a pocket which it is to secure and an elastic member attached to the support extending downwardly over the open mouth of the pocket.

Preferred embodiment of invention The objects and advantages aforesaid as well as other objects and advantages may be achieved by my pocket guard, a preferred embodiment of which is illustrated in the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a flat, relatively rigid support employed in my pocket guard;

FIGURE 2 is a View in perspective of the pocket guard including the support and an elastic member attached thereto;

FIGURE 3 is a front elevational view of the pocket guard, secured above a pocket in a garment.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, my pocket guard comprises a fiat, relatively rigid support 11 which may be fabricated of any suitable material such as plastics of the class of polyethylene or the like. The support 11 defines a flat, generally elongated rectangular body portion 12 and a pair of flat, spaced apart, depending legs 13, 13 formed integrally with the body portion on opposite sides thereof. The legs 13, 13 are sufiiciently rigid to resist inward deflection under the urging of an elastic member 14 which is secured thereto and extends therebetween.

3,477,068 Patented Nov. 11, 1969 The elastic member 14 is secured to the legs 13, 13 and extends upwardly and is secured to the body portion 12. Preferably, the elastic member is at least slightly elastically stretched between the legs 13, 13 such that a positive force must be applied to the lower edge 21 of the elastic member 14 in order to elastically deflect it out of the plane of the support 11. The specific manner of attachment of the elastic member 14 to the support 11 is optional and may include stitches 16 as are illustrated. Neverthelses, the elastic member 14 may be glued to the support 11 or secured in any other suitable fashion.

In operation, the support 11 is attached to the garment 17 immediately above the open mouth 18 of a pocket 19 which it is to guard. Preferably, the support 11 is dimensioned wider than the open mouth 18 of the pocket 19 so as not to unduly limit the useful width thereof. Nevertheless, if one were willing to sacrifice some of the width of the open mouth 18 of the pocket 19, the legs 13, 13 of the support 11 could be inserted into the pocket 19.

Preferably, however, the legs 13, 13 extend downwardly along the sides of the pocket 19 adjacent to the open mouth 8 thereof. The bottom edge 20 of the body portion 12 of the support 11 is spaced away from the top of the open mouth 18 of the pocket 19. The elastic member 14 extends transversely across the pocket 19 a distance beneath the open mouth 18 thereof.

In order to gain access to the open mouth 18 of the pocket 19, the elastic member 14 must be manually, elastically distorted outwardly which requires positive pressure of the fingers or some other device. Nevertheless, distortion of the elastic member 14 and access to the pocket 19 is easily performed in the following fashion.

The fingers are first intruded between the bottom most edge 21 of the elastic member 14 and the face 22 of the pocket 19. The fingers are then forced upwardly until the open mouth 18 of the pocket 19 is reached. The fingers may then be bent downwardly into the open mouth 18 of the pocket 19 simultaneously distorting the elastic member 14 outwardly and upwardly. Any object in the pocket may be grasped by the fingers and withdrawn by pulling first upwardly, then outwardly and then downwardly.

When inserting an object into the pocket, the object may be intruded between the bottom-most edge 21 of the elastic member 14 and the face 22 of the pocket 19. The object, for instance, a wallet, may then be forced upwardly until the upper edge of the object is adjacent to the open mouth 18 of the pocket 19. The object may then be rotated outwardly and upwardly distorting the elastic member 14 to expose the open mouth of the pocket 19. Once exposed, the open mouth 18 will easily accept the object as it is then pushed inwardly and downwardly.

After access has been gained to the pocket and the fingers or an object withdrawn, the elastic member 14 quickly assumes its normal shape, lying tightly against the face 22 of the pocket 19.

The support 11 is illustrated herein as attached to an exposed face of the garment 17 above the pocket 19 by means of stitches 23. Nevertheless, the specific manner of attachment of the support 11 is optional. For instance, the support could be secured inside of the face of the garment 17 so as not to be exposed. The elastic member 14 would then be secured to the legs 13, 13 of the support 11 by means of stitching through the garment 17. An alternative means includes the fastening of the support 11 to the rear of the garment and securing the elastic to the front of the garment, the garment being supported and held relatively rigid by the support 11. The use of the term secured or attached in the claims herein, includes such indirect engagement of the elastic member 14 to the support 11.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention claimed herein includes the use of spaced apart legs 13, 13 on the support 11, the support may take the form of an elongated, generally rectangular member Without legs. In such a species of the invention, the elastic 14 is stretched and secured to opposite edges of the support 11 extending downwardly beneath the support. Since a portion of the side edges of the elastic in this species would not be supported, the degree of elastic stretch of the elastic 14 where attached to the support 11 would have to be substantially greater than the species illustrated.

In this manner, the unsupported portion of the elastic 14 would nevertheless, be slightly elastically stretched. While such a form is not a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is necessarily a mechanical equivalent and should be deemed included within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

The foregoing description is merely intended to illustrate an embodiment of the invention. The component parts have been shown and described. They each may have substitutes which may perform a substantially similar function; such substitutes may be known as proper substitutes for said components and may have actually been known or invented before the present invention; these substitutes are contemplated as being within the scope of the appended claims, although they are not specifically catalogued herein.

I claim: 1. In combination with a garment over a pocket opening, a pocket guard comprising:

(a) a semi-rigid support secured to garment above a pocket opening, and

(b) an elastic member secured to the support extending beneath at least a portion thereof to overlie the pocket opening.

2. In combination with a garment over a pocket opening, a pocket guard comprising:

(a) the structure in accordance with claim 1, in which (b) the said support is a semi-rigid, inverted U-shaped body having a pair of spaced apart, depending legs, and (c) the elastic member extends across the depending legs of the support to overlie the pocket opening. 3. In combination with a garment over a pocket opening, a pocket guard comprising:

(a) the structure in accordance with claim 2, in which, (b) the said support is flat, and has width to the said legs. 4. In combination with a garment over a pocket opening, a pocket guard comprising:

(a) the structure in accordance with claim 3, in which, (b) the said support is a solid, continuous, flat member. 5. In combination with a garment over a pocket opening, a pocket guard comprising,

(a) the structure in accordance with claim 3, in which, (b) the depending legs of the support extend downwardly along opposite sides of the pocket past the opening thereof, the elastic extending transversely across the pocket overlying the entire opening.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 486,352 11/1893 Parmley 2252 1,330,572 2/1920 Babich 2253 2,129,196 9/1938 Boshnack et al. 2254 2,619,649 12/1952 Brown 2252 ALFRED R. GUEST, Primary Examiner 

